Park Hall: The Big Yellow House

Community living is a core element of the SSU experience. So much of the depth of an SSU degree lies in the four years spent living with your peers and sharing daily life with them. All our first year students live on campus, and many choose to stay for their later years as well.

The family atmosphere at SSU is centered around one big old building: Park Hall, or ‘The Big Yellow House’ as it is affectionately known. For over 40 years Park Hall, built at the turn of the 19th century by a wealthy shipbuilder, has housed the offices of SSU, as well as the dorms, library, classrooms, kitchen and dining room. The majestic building overlooks the St. Croix River separating St. Stephen from Calais, Maine. Years before it became a university, Park Hall was the prestigious ‘Park Hotel,’ housing guests such as Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe. Today it is the hub of life at SSU.

We rely on the little town of St. Stephen to be our wider ‘campus’. We have a civic centre ten minutes walk away, which houses a rink, a gym and a pool. We play sports in the various school sports halls in the town, and there is a brewpub just down the road for nights out. But most entertainment at SSU is created ‘in house’ by our creative and fun-loving students who make up for our limited facilities by making Park Hall a home.

We don’t hire outside caterers to cook meals for profit; all our meals are cooked in-home by our students, guided by our chefs. We often have special meals that celebrate food from other cultures, but even our regular day-to-day meals are a really important part of life on campus at SSU; they bring students, staff and faculty together and form part of the daily rhythm of community living.

(pic) people on the move

(pic) madi moriah jen take notes

Live Together

Small class sizes lend themselves to seminar-style learning around a table rather than huge, impersonal lecture halls.

(pic) Zach takes notes Colmar

(pic) deanna and beth on lawn

(pic) piano

(pic) third floor classroom

(pic) slip and slide

(pic) christmas 2010

SSU offers an outstanding life experience. Recognizing a very direct connection between academic development and personal development, between scholarship and maturity, SSU integrates holistic education with personal growth - living here is an adventure for your mind, soul and spirit.

Study Together

(pic) joel plays quitar

(pic) park hall welcomes you

(pic) bob eats ice cream

(pic) cooking in kitchen

Eat Together

(pic) spices

Daily life together is at the core of the SSU experience and, through spending time together, you will find yourself supported and shaped by those around you.